What school shootings do to the kids who survive them, from Sandy Hook to Uvalde

[question everything]

I just read the first few paragraphs and could not continue:

Noah Orona still had not cried.

The 10-year-old’s father, Oscar, couldn’t understand it. Just hours earlier, a stranger with a rifle had walked into the boy’s fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School and opened fire, slaughtering his teachers and classmates in front of him. One round struck Noah in the shoulder blade, carving a 10-inch gash through his back before popping out and spraying his right arm with shrapnel. He’d laid amid the blood and bodies of his dead friends for an hour, maybe more, waiting for help to come.

But there he was, resting in his hospital bed, his brown eyes vacant, his voice muted.

“I think my clothes are ruined,” Noah lamented.

It was okay, his dad assured him. He would get new clothes.

“I don’t think I’m going to get to go back to school,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it,” his father insisted, squeezing his son’s left hand.

“I lost my glasses,” the boy continued. “I’m sorry.”

The children and adults who die in school shootings dominate headlines and consume the public’s attention. Body counts become synonymous with each event, dictating where they rank in the catalogue of these singularly American horrors: 10 at Santa Fe High, 13 at Columbine High, 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, 26 at Sandy Hook Elementary. And now, added to the list is 21 at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Tex.

Those tallies, however, do not begin to capture the true scope of this epidemic in the United States, where hundreds of thousands of children’s lives have been profoundly changed by school shootings. There are the more than 360 kids and adults, including Noah, who have been injured on K-12 campuses since 1999, according to a Washington Post database. And then there are the children who suffer no physical wounds at all, but are still haunted for years by what they saw or heard or lost.

More..

https://wapo.st/3M5Nz0Q

[Brenda]

1. Something is missing

I'm glad to see them focus on some of the survivors but I still see them minimizing the numbers. They say 360 who have been injured, I assume meaning physically. Last week I saw a journalist state there were at least 318,000 survivors from these events since Columbine.

They didn't have to get shot to be severely traumatized.

318,000 kids with PTSD from GUN TERRORISTS in America!

[Blue Owl]

2. All this made possible by the GOP's chokehold on gun 'control' in this country

[Samrob]

3. It must be horrible for them.

Even school children not involved have some after affects like depression, fear, sleeplessness. etc.

[frazzled]

4. It's heartbreaking, but it's not only those kids directly affected

It’s millions of kids across the country.

I learned this at close range just today. My son had tickets to a ball game tomorrow (Memorial Day). His two oldest girls have been begging all year to go to a game again this summer—a sort of annual tradition for an all-day outing with Daddy and Grandpa, and especially ice cream in those little plastic baseball caps. But when my husband called this morning to make plans, he learned that our older granddaughter was suddenly not wanting to go, so plans were on hold.

A call back a hour later explained the refusal: she was terrified of potential violence. She’s in second grade. Fortunately, her father was able to assure her she would be safe, so it’s back on for now.

I can only imagine how young kids, especially, all across the country are living in fear right now. It will hopefully subside. But for those who have been witnesses or injured, the terror will be lifelong. I hope they can get the care they need. The trauma for them is unimaginable.

[Brenda]

5. You're so right.

Sorry to hear about your granddaughter.

We live in such a very sick society where half of the people in control of our government run their campaigns on made-up Q shit meanwhile supporting the industry and culture that causes these events.

They are a weirdo death cult. Worshiping the embryo/fetus yet absolutely indifferent to actual human children being murdered.

[IcyPeas]

6. the ripple effects are unseen.

kids all over america will have to return to school and continue to do active shooter drills.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL.